The brilliant light blinded everyone. The darkness of the spire’s rain dissipated momentarily, revealing the horrors that had happened against the rearguard. Yet, the humans didn’t care about that.
Everyone was focused on the outcome.
Humans were worried because it was their last shot at freedom, and the undead, because Blaze was standing just there, not moving.
Much like humans, even the arrow was slow compared to Blaze’s speed. Hence, dodging the arrow wasn’t a problem for him.
Not until Nico came into the picture.
Instead of running away, he sprinted towards Blaze.
"You’re not getting away!" he yelled, holding on to Blaze like an anchor to a ship.
Nico was planning to sacrifice himself to ensure Blaze couldn’t dodge the arrow. The enforcers, admired by his bravery, joined in. All of them wrapped around the zombie like wild vines.
"Such a pity," Blaze mumbled as the arrow’s light consumed them.
The explosion shook the battlefield. The arrow tore through Blaze, pierced the wall of corpses, and shot far beyond the spire. They felt the ground shake as the aftershock shoved everyone backward.
The healers turned away to shield their eyes following the explosion. The undead, however, stared in horror.
Blaze was nowhere to be seen, along with the humans. The attack didn’t leave anything behind apart from a crimson spot. It was the blood of the humans who sacrificed themselves to ensure Blaze died with them.
A single teardrop fell from June’s eye as she collapsed. Her crossbow shattered into pieces, much like her remaining arm. The intense pain had overloaded her mind, taking away her senses.
She could see a blurry image of the healers moving around in a panic, trying to seal the wounds. She wanted them to leave now that Blaze was gone, but didn’t have the strength to speak.
Her eyes trailed behind, and she noticed more of those strange zombies heading their way.
She tried to warn the healers, but to no avail.
The sporeforms lunged at the healers, biting and tearing into them. Without the enforcers and zealots, the healers were worse than sitting ducks.
Their abilities didn’t work on the sporeforms, and worst of all, they couldn’t even outrun them because they had consumed too much energy!
Girl screamed as a sporeform tore into her neck. She wasn’t the first to fall, nor was she the last.
"It’s a beautiful sight, don’t you think so?"
June’s eyes widened in horror as she heard the familiar voice. She used all her strength to look sideways, praying to the Blightlord that her mind was playing tricks on her.
Unfortunately, the Blightlord couldn’t care less about her.
Blaze squatted next to her, savoring every expression she made. First there was disbelief, then panic, anger, and finally resignation.
They did everything they could, and not even a shred of Blaze’s suit was harmed by the arrow. Instead, her arrow only killed her people.
She bit into the bloody ground, trying to suppress her raging emotions as the sporeforms surrounded her.
Meanwhile, Blaze turned around, looking at the arrow’s impact.
"You almost got me," he commented.
It was true. If he hadn’t evolved into a grade-5 being, he would have died right then and there. It was difficult to believe a bunch of grade-4 humans posed a threat to his life.
If not for his domain and his speed, he would have died along with the humans.
At first, he thought about dodging the attack, but then realized the humans would survive along with him.
So, he used the tentacles to pierce their brains and took their nuclei, then slipped into the corpse domain to shield himself from the strike.
June believed she had killed fellow humans, but they were already dead when the arrow obliterated them. It then went further to destroy the teleportation circle as well.
Blaze hadn’t planned it, but it worked in his favor since he couldn’t destroy the circle on his own. After all, he couldn’t risk stepping out of the spire’s protection, just in case the Blightlord had more tricks up their sleeve.
"Now, it’d be difficult for the cult to interrupt my plans. All thanks to you."
Still, he couldn’t disagree that toying around too much almost backfired on him.
"Hm... I wonder if the cult has stronger people than you," Blaze said, staring at the destroyed magic circle.
"Jus...t kill... m...e."
June begged for death. There was no purpose in her living since the operation was such a catastrophic failure.
Even though she was at death’s doorstep, she was afraid that Blaze would taint her body, turning her into one of his kind.
June didn’t want that, but she knew that was the case since the sporeforms didn’t attack her. Blaze had something planned for her.
"I can’t do that," Blaze said, acting concerned. "You almost killed me, remember? It would be a waste to let you die indefinitely."
"N...o... kill... me... plea...se..."
June crawled to his feet, groveling to be killed.
However, when Blaze didn’t have any reaction, she tried biting her tongue off. It was surprising how much blood still spurted out of her mouth, staining Blaze’s pants.
June thought as she choked on blood.
However, the peace was just momentary.
"Is everyone in the cult mentally challenged?" Blaze scoffed, watching June choke. "I can use you whether you’re alive or dead. It doesn’t matter to me."
He snapped his fingers, and Marrow flew next to him.
"Since you’re so desperate to die, let me show you something first," he said, stepping back.
June couldn’t care less about his antics anymore. She knew she was on the verge of death and that her body would be used by Blaze afterward. Yet she was happy because at least she could die on her terms.
Sadly, fate was often cruel.
June could feel her body giving up when a strange warmth surrounded her. Her eyes widened in horror as she felt her tongue grow back. Next were her arms. Not only were the wounds healed, but even her limbs grew back!
A normal person would’ve been happy with such an outcome, but June was filled with despair. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N0veI.Fiɾe.net
A zombie... had healed her!